Social, economic, and behavioral factors can influence the trajectory of one’s health so significantly they have been coined the “social determinants of health” or SDoH. Those factors include:
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) are committed to understanding how the health care system can best identify, understand, and appropriately respond to these factors to improve the health of our members and our communities.
“Through our evaluation and research, we hope to help empower patients to better manage the social and behavioral factors that influence their health,” said Clarissa Hsu, PhD, KPWHRI associate investigator.
Our institute researchers have long been interested in SDoH. Examples include our work in areas such as tobacco addiction and the integration of treatment for behavioral health issues into primary care. We’ve worked on efforts such as reducing racial disparities in care, opioid overuse, and vaccine hesitancy. Our Center for Community Health and Evaluation has helped to promote and sustain healthy communities; our Center for Accelerating Care Transformation (formerly known as the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation) has championed the Chronic Care Model and has been committed to helping U.S. primary care practices — including community health centers — integrate community resources into health improvement.
Moving forward, we intend to make targeted improvements in the lives of Kaiser Permanente members, but, as these examples suggest, we also work in communities around the nation for broad impact. Here are just a few examples of KPWHRI’s current work related to SDoH:
KPWHRI researchers are committed to gaining a holistic understanding of people’s lives — one that can best inform prevention, intervention, and implementation efforts, maximizing the public health impact of our efforts.
KPWHRI researchers have a unique constellation of methodological strengths — including qualitative analysis, implementation science, and experience with evidence reviews, evaluation design and methods, measurement development, big data analysis for community intervention evaluation, pragmatic trials, user-centered design, survey research, and community-based participatory research. These strengths are coupled with substantive expertise (for example, nutrition, physical activity, behavioral health, economic and racial disparities, prevention and health promotion, child health and development, and stigma), and a multi-disciplinary, team-science-based approach that is needed to tackle these “thorny issues.”
We hope to realize the optimal role of the health care system in addressing social, economic, and behavioral needs, and partner with the community to create much needed change.
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Brown MC, Hawley C, Ornelas IJ, Huber C, Best L, Thorndike AN, Beresford S, Howard BV, Umans JG, Hager A, Fretts AM. Adapting a cooking, food budgeting and nutrition intervention for a rural community of American Indians with type 2 diabetes in the North-Central United States. Health Educ Res. 2023 Jan 20;38(1):13-27. doi: 10.1093/her/cyac033. PubMed
Clarissa Hsu, PhDAssociate Investigator |
Katharine A. Bradley, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Paula Lozano, MD, MPHSenior Investigator; Director, ACT Center |
David E. Arterburn, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Joseph E. Glass, PhD, MSWAssociate Investigator |
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Allen Cheadle, PhDSenior Investigator, KPWHRI; Senior Research Associate, CCHE |
Paula R. Blasi, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSWAssistant Investigator |
Marlaine Figueroa Gray, PhDAssistant Investigator |
Gregory E. Simon, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Andrea J. Cook, PhDSenior Biostatistics Investigator |
Dori E. Rosenberg, PhD, MPHSenior Scientific Investigator |
Jennifer F. Bobb, PhDAssociate Biostatistics Investigator |
Katie Coleman, MSPHDirector, ACT Center |
Robert Penfold, PhDSenior Investigator |
Jennifer B. McClure, PhDDirector, Investigative Science |
Leah K. Hamilton, PhDSenior Collaborative Scientist |
Jess Mogk, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Claire Allen, MPHManager, Collaborative Science |
Morgan Justice, MACollaborative Scientist |
Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPHPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |
Kelsey Stefanik-Guizlo, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Theresa E. Matson, PhD, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Meagan C. Brown, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
Linda K. McEvoy, PhDSenior Investigator |
Kimberly Arthur, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Nora Henrikson, PhD, MPHAssociate Investigator |
Emily Williams, PhD, MPH
University of Washington School of Public Health